I've played all of the boat missions and that is like my new favorite thing ever.

It's really exciting. Makes me want to see Ubisoft make a pirate game. The feeling of sinking a frigate with 2 volleys of heat shot is pretty awesome.

Oh man I should go back to AC3 but got hooked on NFS, connor still a teenager so much left.

Really awesome, hope that system is a part of something bigger at some point

Is there any way to upgrade the ship? I'm enjoying it, but I thought something the captain said implied that there would be ways to improve the ship later on.

This world is definitely in need of a good open world pirate game.

Yeah I agree. Was floored by how fun it was and how it was a whole other system of missions and upgrades. Sinking ships left and right is really satisfying.

@FluxWaveZ There's a book beside harbormasters you can purchase upgrades from. They're really expensive though.

@FluxWaveZ said:

Is there any way to upgrade the ship? I'm enjoying it, but I thought something the captain said implied that there would be ways to improve the ship later on.

Go to a harbormaster symbol on the map and right next to the person who takes you to sea is a book, look at the book that is where all the upgrades are. Be warned they are expensive.

By far the most enjoyable stuff in AC3.

The naval combat is the best part of the game. Like the first two AC's I am bored of the bread and butter gameplay about 6 hours in. I just don't think AC games are for me.

@supamon: @Joeybagad0nutz: Thanks for the responses. Heh, apparently they're expensive, so I guess I might not be too enthused when I realize I'll need to hunt a lot more than I currently am.

It's weird that we haven't had a thread about this already because, hell yeah, that naval combat is grossly and almost inexplicably compelling. That is the last thing that I really expected them to do well in this entry, and the demo totally looked like it would be some sort of on-rails sequence, but even just the tutorial sequence was some of the most tense, harrowing gameplay I've experienced thus far.

So clearly the lesson here is that Ubisoft Singapore, the team outsourced for the naval battles, needs to paid oodles of cash and put onto make a AAA pirate game.

I enjoyed the naval combat too. I know I wasn't terribly good at it, but loved screaming "Full Sail!!!!!" "Half Sail!!!" at my tv while turning hard in the midnight wave-tossed missions. I love Faulkner. "GO GET THAT WIND!!"

Oh, ramming... that was always satisfying.

That feeling when a cannon salvo takes 4 ships at once...or when you ram into that tiny tiny boat

YEAAH FULL SAIIIIIIL

Agreed, pretty awesome. Makes me wish for a new Pirates! game.

Dude, just trying to steer the damn thing stresses me out, to say nothing of actually attempting to hit my targets. Despite my suckage, I do enjoy those parts and kind of wish I remembered that there's more ship missions than the story sequences. I didn't think the naval stuff would be nearly as good as it turned out.

Mild spoilers:

Haytham needed to keep his goddamned backseat captain-ing to himself, though. If I had been able to detach myself from the wheel for a bit during that mission I probably would have shoved the dickhead overboard. >:\

Easily the most enjoyable part of the game. I also agree that Ubisoft should make a pirate game, or maybe a spin-off, Pirate's Creed or something.

I was skeptical at first, but now having played it I can say it's my favorite part of the game. They would be fools not to develop the idea further, either in the next AC or into its own game. I haven't played anything like it since Destroyer Command ten years ago, which was also published by Ubisoft.

Yeah the naval combat in this is really fun. It reminds me a LOT of the naval combat in Empire Total War.

Even though I suck horribly at the naval combat, it's still freaking AWESOME.

The only other game I've ever liked that had to do with Naval warfare was sly cooper 3. This game made me nervous about the naval part since I though I'd be terrible at it and that it would make me hate the game. But instead it's made me very happy and can't wait to liberate the cities and move on to the naval aspect of the game. Very very pleased with the warfare.

@dungbootle: That's exactly what I was thinking when I first got to the sailing section of this game.

I am terrible at it, and despise it more than any portion of any AC game to come before it. I guess it looks alright, but I hate the control, I hate how it fires, I hate the dialogue during the battles, I just hate everything about it. I am a pretty laidback guy normally, but the naval battles in this game have made me rage quit half a dozen times. The worst part is that unlike the shitty parts of prior AC games - which you could pretty much avoid with the exception of perhaps a tutorial - the naval combat MUST be partaken in during at least 3 missions to advance the game this time around. i find that very annoying, and it has brought to the point of possibly not finishing the game, as I am stuck on the battle at the beginning of sequence 11.